Two sexual assaults occurred in the past two weeks in the Jamaica Plain and Mission Hill areas. Monday morning, yellow flyers were posted on the doors of women’s restrooms and various entrances around campus. The message? You (women) should try and be more careful.
Well, that’s not all it was. It gave female students wise advice like “Trust your instincts” and “use well-traveled, well-lit routes and avoid shortcuts through alleys, parks, etc.”
This “SAFEnet Advisory” printed by the Northeastern Public Safety Division conjures up just one word: weak. It’s a weak statement in response to what they define as “serious acts of violence.” Two women have allegedly been raped, and you’re telling women to program 9-1-1 into their cell phone speed dial.
As the Boston Red Sox travel through the postseason, as Springfest approaches, maybe even the NU hockey season, Northeastern administrators will no doubt follow their usual plan of releasing strongly-worded statements about misbehavior and its consequences.
But, where is Northeastern in all of this? Their pithy statements about safety and traveling in pairs do next to nothing to actually change fear or promote change.
What these yellow flyers lack is a call to arms. They don’t tell students — men and women — what they plan to do about it.
We’ve already seen what it takes to get things going around here. Things have to hit rock-bottom. And although the idea of cars flipping over on Hemenway Street is beyond frightening to Northeastern administrators, allow us to present you with some more frightening facts.
According to a report by the Justice Department’s National Institute of Justice and Bureau of Justice Statistics, 3 percent of college women experience a completed or attempted rape every year. The report also states that 13 percent of college women are stalked year-long. Nearly 60 percent of rapes take place on campus.
Wait a second. Aren’t all the delinquent, sexually-active, drunkard students dwelling off campus? Since when could there be crime on the hallowed bricks of NU?
And why is this “common sense” paper being affixed to just the women’s bathroom walls? Former Student Government Association President Michael Romano took well-documented strides to improve sexual assault awareness and resources at NU as, gasp, a college male.
Northeastern, this is not a joke. This is not a baseball game or a hip-hop concert. This is the life and well-being of your female students. It’s time to get serious. It’s time to stop waiting for a cause to have an effect.
Rape defense courses need to be free. More police officers need to patrol questionable areas at night. Women need to be surveyed to find out what areas of campus they find uncomfortable. Students should be able to affix locks to their leased apartment doors.
It’s sad to think the response to this might be, “Well, these rapes didn’t happen on campus.” Well, these parties aren’t on campus, and Northeastern has become mightily involved.
Two lives have no doubt already changed forever. NU should get serious about stopping that number from rising.
